Alderman announces bid for Yorkville mayor

Yorkville Ald. Joe Plocher has decided to make the April 2 mayoral election a two-way race.

Plocher returned to the City Council after winning a three-way race in the April 2017 municipal election.

Mayor Gary Golinski, who has already announced he is seeking a third four-year term in office, appointed Plocher about a month earlier to fill a vacant seat in Ward 2.

Plocher was originally elected to the post in 2007 but lost his re-election bid in 2011.

Plocher, a pipefitter, touted his experience as an alderman and mayor pro-tem during his last bid for alderman in 2017. He advocated for street improvements in the older sections of the ward as well.

Plocher said he decided to run for the mayor's post because of the controversial forced annexation proposal that advanced from staff to the city council.

"I thought it was a morally wrong decision to try to forcibly annex people into the city," he told The Beacon-News.

"People bought their homes outside of the city for reasons of their own. To force them into the city was completely wrong.”

City staff in reports to aldermen said the move was intended to address the pockets of unincorporated areas that resulted from residential development during Yorkville's growth years.

Golinski pulled the proposal one day after residents objected during a highly charged public hearing.

Residential growth doesn't provide financial gains for a municipality, Plocher said. The financial gains from property taxes would not outweigh the costs associated with providing services such as utility infrastructure improvements and police protection, he said.

Plocher said he's known Golinski for quite a long time.

"Gary and I have been aldermen together representing ward 2 but we always had differences of opinion," Plocher said.